by Roger B. Swain
What Lewis Thomas is to microbes, Roger Swain is to woodchucks. An editor of Horticulture magazine, Swain forages no farther than his backyard to return with this basketful of perfectly wrought essays. One begins with a discussion of buffalo (or cow) chip throwing—"the only instance I know of where manure spreading has become a sport"—and leads gracefully to an analysis of the virtues of dung beetles. They clear tons of dung a year, fertilize and aerate the soil, reduce the spread of parasites and disease and cut down the number of flies. Swain is equally illuminating on such modest subjects as maple syrup, beekeeping, duckweed, rotten apples and mistletoe. There is a brilliant essay on the symbiosis between squirrels and pecan trees; the squirrels get a tasty source of nutrition and in return, by occasionally forgetting to dig up nuts they've buried, help propagate new trees. (In some years pecan trees produce no nuts at all, thereby preventing an overpopulation of hungry squirrels.) This book belongs on every gardener's shelf. (Scribner's, $10.95)
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